


until the end

by demonicneonfishy



Series: february angst-fest (febuwhump 2021) [28]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: F/F, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Oops, Pre-Canon, discussions of mortality, he's already dead, pretty sure i killed him earlier this month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29761038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonicneonfishy/pseuds/demonicneonfishy
Summary: After Lykon dies, Andromache and Quýnh’s world is thrown completely off course. The only certainty they’d ever had - that they couldn’t die - is no longer certain, and neither of them quite know what to do.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Series: february angst-fest (febuwhump 2021) [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141784
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	until the end

**Author's Note:**

> day 28 of febuwhump 2021  
> prompt: "i can't lose you too" (alt 2)

After Lykon dies, Andromache and Quýnh’s world is thrown completely off course. The only certainty they’d ever had - that they couldn’t die - is no longer certain, and neither of them quite know what to do.

They continue to travel, places they hadn’t been with Lykon and therefore hold no painful memories, but they do not linger anywhere for long. Quýnh can feel Andromache withdrawing into herself, and wishes she knew what Andromache was thinking, wishes she knew how to help. But when she tries to reach out, Andromache pulls away. Every time.

Quýnh breaks, finally, when they leave a town that is on the brink of war before the conflict arrives. When their help is needed. When Andromache walks into their camp and says, “We should go.”

“What?” Quýnh asks, standing up. “We can’t.”

“We have to,” Andromache says, not meeting Quýnh’s eyes. 

“The raiders will be here in days, we cannot leave  _ now.  _ These people need our help.”

“They’ll be fine without us.”

“People will  _ die _ , Andromache.” The words hang in the air between them. “You want us to leave, when we could save them?”

“They’ll die anyway,” Andromache says, and that is what finally breaks Quýnh. She stares at Andromache, at the other half of her heart, and cannot recognise what she has become.

“You cannot mean that,” she says.

“We can’t stay here. I do not want to argue about it.”

“I love you, Andromache,” Quýnh says, “but I will not blindly obey you. I am not one of your  _ subjects _ , and you will not treat me as such.”

Andromache flinches at that. She’d only spoken of her time worshipped as a god briefly, in passing, and Quýnh had not asked. There are dark things in Andromache’s past, she knows that, and she does not often ask about them.

“You know I will follow you anywhere,” she continues. “But you have to  _ speak _ to me, my heart. I hardly recognise who you are anymore.”

Neither of them speak for a moment, until Andromache looks away.

“It’s too dangerous,” she says finally.

“Too  _ dangerous _ ?” Quýnh cannot believe what she is hearing. “We cannot die, Andromache.”

“Except we  _ can _ .” Andromache looks at her then, and Quýnh realises with a start that there are tears in her eyes. 

_ Oh _ , Quýnh thinks. 

“Lykon was the youngest of us. If he died, you could- I could-”

Quýnh is the next youngest. If this is some kind of pattern, then it only follows that Quýnh would be next. And suddenly, Andromache’s fear makes so much more sense.

“I can’t risk it,” Andromache says, almost pleadingly. “I can’t lose you too.”

Quýnh watches her for a moment, her heart aching for Andromache. Then, in one swift movement, draws her knife and slices open her palm. 

Andromache makes a strangled sound and stumbles towards her, taking her injured hand and turning it over to look at the wound. They watch, together, as the wound knits itself back together until all that remains is blood on unbroken skin.

“Andromache,” Quýnh says softly. “Look at me, please.”

Andromache lifts her gaze from Quýnh’s hand to meet her eyes. 

“We have no way of knowing when it will end,” Quýnh tells her. “But we still heal for now. And we can still help people. Running away will not prevent it, if it is our time.”

Andromache nods, and Quýnh leans forward, pressing their foreheads together.

“I will not leave you,” Quýnh insists. “I promise.”

“You can’t promise that,” Andromache whispers.

Quýnh smiles. “Let the world try to take me from you. It will not succeed. I will not let it.”

Andromache smiles back.

**Author's Note:**

> this has a nice ending if you don't think about what happens to quynh so uh. don't think about it  
> this concludes the february angst-fest! hope you enjoyed, i certainly did!  
> -  
> i'm demonicneonfishy on tumblr too if you wanna come say hi!!


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